March 11

Fresno Bee:

Lesson of ruling — don’t panic

Here’s some advice for parents of the estimated 166,000 children who are home schooled in California: Don’t panic. Avoid hysteria.

That may be easier said than done, since James Dobson of Focus on the Family has stirred people up. In a March 7 radio show, Dobson falsely claimed that a Feb. 28 California Court of Appeals ruling essentially told parents, “Sorry, you can’t teach your own children”; you have to “close down and send your kids back to public school.”

The court did no such thing. It did not rule that home schooling is illegal in California. Nor did it say that parents can’t teach their children without a teaching credential.

All the court did was uphold long-standing California law, which courts have been doing since the 1950s. It requires every child between the ages of six and 18 to attend a full-time public school, unless the child:

… Attends a private full-time school (where teachers must be “capable of teaching,” but don’t need a teaching credential);

… Is tutored by a person holding a teaching credential;

… Is enrolled in an independent study program with the local public school district or a private school.

The California Home School Network says nothing has changed: “It is as legal to home school in California today as it was before this ruling.”

California Home School Legal Defense advises “that any family home schooling needs to do so appropriately by either being a credentialed teacher (or hiring one), enrolling in a public school independent study program, or enrolling their students in a private school independent study program.”

Nothing -- absolutely nothing -- in the law has changed or needs to change for families seeking alternatives to public school.

 

March 10

San Jose Mercury News:

“State tax reform can spare schools devastating cuts”

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata was emphatic: Democratic senators will not allow education spending to be cut 10 percent. They will fight for higher taxes.

That’s a welcome position. Now, he has to sell it to parents he hopes will organize and support the plan, to a governor who’s been tripping over his tongue when asked about taxes, and to the business community that must talk sense to at least the handful of Republicans who’ll be needed to pass a budget.

Legislators still have to find ways to close half of a projected $16 billion deficit over the next 16 months. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes to do this mainly through 10 percent cuts to education and other programs.

Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill has suggested reducing cuts with tax-law changes yielding $2.7 billion in additional revenue. House Speaker Fabian Núñez has called for $4 billion in new revenue without specifying how.

Perata has now upped that ante to at least $5 billion, enough to preserve Proposition 98’s guarantee for school funding.

Per-student spending in California, adjusted for regional costs, is 46th in the nation. An Oakland Democrat and former teacher, Perata says he won’t allow the state to fall to dead last on his watch.

Nearly every Republican legislator has signed a pledge not to raise taxes. It took 51 days last summer to nudge a handful to end the stalemate on this year’s budget that included no new taxes.

Even if there’s $5 billion in new revenue, the state will have to cut billions in costs to balance the budget. Still, Perata’s proposal is a good start for discussion.

 

March 9

Torrance Daily Breeze:

“Give parents the choice”

When a state appellate court ruled that parents do not have a legal right to teach their own children at home, the immediate implications were too numerous to understand.

First, what will happen to the children who are home-schooled? Will school districts legally enforce the ruling by rooting out home-schooled children and forcing them into a public or private school enrollment?

While it is too early to fully grasp the ramifications, and that may be a long time coming if the case is appealed to the California Supreme Court, one thing is clear. This ruling by 2nd District Court of Appeal is a wake-up call to the state of California, specifically to the California Department of Education, to clarify home schooling rules and arrangements.

California needs to shore up its rules allowing home schooling of children so both sides can be assured no one is breaking the law. Right now, the education code says every child must be in school. If not, then according to the appeals court, parents must possess a full teaching credential in order to home-school their children.

The state of California has allowed home schooling of children as long as the family files paperwork.